Well, I don't want to be the harbinger of bad news, but you know how governments work right? They tell people that there is no real threat when in fact things already are pretty grim, in order to suppress panic and chaos. Tokyo is just 240 km away from the Fukushima power-plant, which after the second explosion and radioactive leak is in critical condition at the moment. The radioactive cloud unfortunately is heading towards the capital city. In itself, it already is very dangerous, but if the rain falls.... Things will get really nasty:/ The people who leave in a 20 km radius from Fukushima and somehow failed to evacuate from the area were told that under no circumstances should they leave their houses, but seal the windows and doors and wait.... Do you get the picture?

Apparently as little as one millionth of a gram of this radioactive material entering your body (drank in water, breathed in etc) is enough to cause a serious cancer. This stuff is already rising up in clouds and explosions and dropping around Japan. This is serious s**t, guys

How the hell could you rebuild entire towns and villages? , and would you want to build them in the same place again? Obviously people are gonna' want to move to higher ground to live, incase it ever happened again, but the harbour is still going to have to be rebuilt, they have no other option for shipping etc:, and their airports are low level aswell. I'm glad its not my problem

People will move back eventually. They always do. Death and catastrophes are things that happen to others. Hope and denial eventual triumph. It is a given that Los Angeles will be hit so hard one day that thousands will die. But I don't see anyone moving away because of this reason. Just think of all the towns built near volcanos. Like in Italy. That's typical of us humans

The Japanese will think of something, it's a nation of crafty and very wise people. If they won't win this struggle, who will in a similar situation? They will rebuild their towns, they are capable of such a feat, and they will probably move a bit upslope. I would not be very surprised if they constructed some kind of barriers near the coastline. The thing I am worried about is the potential radioactive threat...

For a very rich country, their government is very slow to give support to people without food, fuel, water, whatever, and the poor people living inside the radioactive exclusion zone have been left to fend for themselves, completely forgotten, no one will go in to bring them relief

It seems we don't watch the same news Tony, your story is more like the Katrina in the US. They're doing a decent job. And don't forget that the size of the affected area is huge and that they also have the nuclear plant problem to take care of

I'm watching bbc news, and skynews, and although any task undertaken is great work in difficult conditions, theres people that are alive and living close to the reactors, and they won't even go in to bring them out, the hospitals don't want them, and even the hospital in that area, which is still working, has been let down, and nothing is being done to aid them, because of their location

Well, as brutal as it may sound you can't always help everyone, especially when you deal with a disaster of such a magnitude. From what I see, they are doing the best they can, but it just isn't enough. We have to remember that many areas are virtually inaccessible by land, supplies are scarce, and the level of destruction of the whole infrastructure is simply out of this world, it's easy for us to point out that something hasn't been done, or it has but not properly, but we aren't the ones who are coping with this tragedy. It's logistically a very complex undertaking, and the majority of experts are genuinely impressed with the way the Japanese authorities are handling it. Plus, look at ordinary people. There is no chaos, they are willing to share the little amount of food and water they have, they are aware of the situation and understand it's implications. I'm quite positive that in any other country in the world there would already be gangs of looters, and the citizens would be far from remaining calm...

Fair enough, but that's a more specific problem. Being a rich country has nothing to do with it, people gets scared of stuff like radiation, hiv, etc. leading to those affected being ostricized by the community. But the overall humanitarian mission is going quite well, lots of people were taken care of already, no one is starving or dehydrating. Also, they've started rebuilding roads and other key infrastructure. But you are right about the people near the reactors, it's sad indeed

It's really hard to realize the gravity of that kind of situation watching it on a screen. All the same my thoughts and prayers are with all of the Japanese people. A natural disaster like that is bad enough, but add the nuclear radiation factor, it is tragic. I really hope that not many lives have been taken and that many can be helped and continue on